Clustered storage is the use of two or more storage servers working together to increase performance, capacity, or reliability. Clustering distributes workloads to each server, manages the transfer of workloads between servers, and provides access to all files from any server regardless of the physical location of the file.
Examples of clustered storage systems include tightly coupled clusters and loosely coupled clusters. A tightly coupled cluster has a proprietary physical backplane into which controller nodes connect. While this backplane fixes the maximum size of the cluster, it delivers a high-performance interconnect between servers for load-balanced performance and maximum scalability as the cluster grows. Additional array controllers, input/output (I/O) ports, and capacity can connect into the cluster as demand dictates.
A loosely coupled cluster offers cost-effective building blocks that can start small and grow as applications demand. A loose cluster offers performance, I/O, and storage capacity within the same node. As a result, performance scales with capacity and vice versa.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.